nintendo – Whole Heartily

The First 60 Minutes of Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Have you ever been undecided on what to play next?

Should you buy that game? Should you install that game?

I’ve been there, and sometimes you just need to take a look at the graphics, hear the music, and learn a little about the plot to see if it resonates with you before taking the next step. I’m here to help! I am creating the first 30 to the first 60 minute videos of games; indie and mainstream, new and old!

This week let’s take a look at the first 60 minutes of Kena: Bridge of Spirits…

Do you want to play the rest?

The First 60 Minutes of Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Have you ever been undecided on what to play next?

Should you buy that game? Should you install that game?

This week let’s take a look at the first 60 minutes of Super Mario Bros. Wonder…

Do you want to play the rest?

Link’s Equipment Guide – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

If there’s one thing I do when I play a game (besides trying to relax and enjoy myself), it’s look up information. I get curious or stuck, and I find myself turning to the internet for answers. There are a lot of good guides out there that are super helpful, but what I don’t see are an abundance of simple and clean visual guides that lay out all the information in one place.

I finished playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past earlier this year and it felt good to finally find everything and complete the game! I thought it would be helpful and fun to make a couple guides on where to find all of Link’s equipment and items for anyone else who may be curious and wondering where they are.

This visual or infographic guide is for Link’s “Equipment” and action or “Do” items as organized on the inventory screen. I will have another guide for the “Items” as organized on the inventory screen.

Please let me know if you would like me to work on a guide for the other collectibles within The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or if there are any games you would like to see visual information or guides for in the future! I love helping people, discussing games and organizing information!

Paper Mario: The Origami King – Not-Bottomless Hole Guides

I’ve finished playing Paper Mario: The Origami King and I loved it! All of the characters are so charming (including those previously considered villains like Kamek) and no one more so than newcomer Olivia. Olivia is such a positive, charming, lovable character in all her naivety…and just like that I’ve realized I have a real soft spot for characters that view the world with wonder.

If you want to earn 100% completion and/or score the secret ending there’s a lot of work to do! In an effort to help, I’ve created guides to help you find all of the Not-Bottomless Holes.

These visual or infographic guides are separated by Streamer Color and then the areas within. The Not-Bottomless Holes are in no particular order, though I did my best to list them in a progressive way as you move through an area. I numbered them to clearly show how many are in each area with a detailed description on where to find them.

Please let me know if you would like me to work on a guide for the other collectibles within Paper Mario: The Origami King or if there are any games you would like to see visual information or guides for in the future! I love helping people, discussing games and organizing information!

Paper Mario: The Origami King – Question Block Guides

If you want to earn 100% completion and/or score the secret ending there’s a lot of work to do! In an effort to help, I’ve created guides to help you find all of the Question Blocks or ? Blocks.

These visual or infographic guides are separated by Streamer Color and then the areas within. The Question Blocks are in no particular order, though I did my best to list them in a progressive way as you move through an area. I numbered them to clearly show how many are in each area with a detailed description on where to find them.

Paper Mario: The Origami King – Collectible Treasure Guides

If you want to earn 100% completion and/or score the secret ending there’s a lot of work to do! In an effort to help, I’ve created guides to help you find all 120 Collectible Treasures.

These visual or infographic guides are separated by Streamer Color and then the areas within. The Collectible Treasures are organized by their numbers, names, and a detailed description on where to find them.

Thank you Ring Fit Adventure, I’ll Take it From Here!

In my Ring Fit Adventure Challenge – Reboot post, I posed the question: Can playing a video game really help you and I get fit? More specifically, can Ring Fit Adventure help you and I get fit?

For three months now, I have played 30 to 40 minutes of Ring Fit Adventure a day and my conclusion is: yes, but it takes a lot of time.

Ring Fit Adventure was released Saturday October 18th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. It comes with a squeezable pilates ring to hold and an elastic leg strap for leg movement. It piqued my interest because the main part of the game is a story where you need to travel across maps and defeat monsters to get to the boss who you also have to fight using different work out moves. The more you experience you get, the more you level up and acquire new workout moves to complete your journey. It is delightfully entertaining, adding plot and challenges or battles to cleverly distract the player from their workout, but if you’re looking to get down to business and workout quickly and efficiently, this is not the experience you’re looking for.

If someone were to play this every day for a long period of time they could make progress, I have lost six pounds since May and the exercises have become easier to perform and sustain, but the amount of time spent playing does not equal the amount of time spent exercising. When I say I played for 30 to 40 minutes a day, that equaled out to about 10 minutes of active workout time (which the game will track for you). The rest of the time is spent going through setup, menus, preparation, and story dialog. Calculating from my experience, you would need to play about 3 hours to reach 60 minutes of active workout time. Unfortunately a lot of people do not have the time for that, including myself.

I want to thank the game for its ingenuity and beauty, and for getting me started. I believe it inspired me to get up and get moving, but now I feel I would be more effective working out on my own.

Have you played Ring Fit Adventure? How is your progress? I would love to know!

Ring Fit Adventure Challenge – Reboot

Can playing a video game really help you and I get fit? I believe Ring Fit Adventure can and I’m going to test it out!

Ring Fit Adventure was released Saturday October 18th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. It comes with a squeezable pilates ring to hold and an elastic leg strap for leg movement. It piqued my interest because the main part of the game is a story where you need to travel across maps and defeat monsters to get to the boss who you also have to fight using different work out moves. The more you experience you get the more you level up and acquire new workout moves to complete your journey. It is delightfully distracting and entertaining!

As you might have gathered, I am not the epitome of health I would love to be, and to speak plainly, I haven’t been for a long time. This is uncomfortable for me to tell you, but I currently weigh 170 pounds. I feel heavier and far less graceful on my feet than I ever used to, and I want movement to feel easy and comfortable instead of a chore. When I was a teenager, I was more active and fortunate enough to have a good metabolism; I weighed 110 pounds and, at 5’2” tall, I felt comfortable in my own body. Since then I have put on more and more weight as my metabolism has slacked off and my bad habits have grown. Now I am a freshly minted, new mama and I’m looking to get back into shape and lose my baby weight plus a little extra! I’ve indulged myself for a little too long and it’s time to get back on track!

In addition to the game, let’s talk about my variables:

I’ve been practicing up to 20 minutes of yoga daily.
I’ve been taking my daughter out in her stroller for 30 minute walks daily.
During this shelter-at-home order, I’ve started intermittent fasting and only feel like eating 2 large meals a day.
I am making an effort to drink at least 78 oz. of water a day.

Confession time: I started this challenge back in October when the game released, and I dropped the ball. Months went by and I started doing my daily yoga and walks. This has made me feel better than I have in a long time (being pregnant and having a baby is no joke on your body) and with a stronger foundation, I wanted to give this challenge another try!

Let’s do this! Follow along with me on here and Instagram!